"Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars: Battle Tales #5" by Michael Moreci

 "Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars: Battle Tales #5" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Derek Charm and Luis Antonio Delgado (framing story) AND Philip Murphy and Rebecca Nalty (story within a story)

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This was a fine ending to a truly enjoyable series!! The framing story did end a bit abruptly, but the story within a story was utter perfection. And all 5 issues together make one delightfully engaging package. If you enjoy "The Clone Wars" TV show, you definitely need to check this series out! If you'd like to wait for the trade paperback hardcopy or the digital copy of all 5 issues in one, it is set to release on December 8th--you can pre-order here. (This is an affiliate link.) This series has heart, action, humor, surprises, familiar and not-so-familiar characters, and even sometimes digs deep into the realities of war and the realities of being clones bred to fight. It is easy to tell that Michael Moreci truly cares about the subject matter and wanted to do this era and this style of storytelling justice. I love it!

The proverb on the title page is, "When your back is against the wall, the only direction to go is forward." Previous issues have had better and more apt proverbs. I guess, figuratively, Obi-Wan and his troops in the story within a story are backed into a corner and they do make a plan to move forward and win the day! So, it works.

We start off on Hisseen with the clone troopers surrounded by smoke, recovering from the blast ignited by the Separatists at the end of the last issue. But the danger hasn't passed as battle droids surround the battle-weary clones... Rex starts to let his anger get the best of him and I believe it is Commander Cody who tries to calm him down by saying, "Easy, Rex. Easy. After all, being captured isn't the worst thing in the galaxy...Look on the bright side--we've been in worse jams before." 

And thus begins the story within a story on Caliban, a snow-covered moon in the Outer Rim, where Obi-Wan and his troops have been captured by none other than...General Grievous!!! (Check out the ominous image of him hovering over Obi-Wan below.) Although Obi-Wan claims that the Galactic Accords regarding prisoners of war state no prisoner can be forced into manual labor, this is exactly what Grievous demands of the Republic troops. There's an ice bridge Grievous wants rebuilt that it turns out was destroyed by the cyborg himself when he first took the moon. Initially, Obi-Wan is a bit under-handed and devious and tells his men to make a shoddy bridge that will fall out beneath and, well, do away with the Separatist forces. I can't decide if this is very Obi-Wan or not...it seems a bit unlike him to be so callous and uncaring...I mean, I guess we are just talking about droids, but still!

Then of course, the story takes a turn and something prevents the Jedi from going through with his devious plan...this guy (see image below)!!! He's a Qubey, a native of the moon Caliban, and he is precious! Poor thing is stuck on one side of the canyon with his parents on the other and Obi-Wan decides they need to instead build the bridge better than it started out. D'awww. And then we meet more of the little guys--they're like a mixture of Ewoks, Care Bears, and Gummi Bears (you know, that old '80s cartoon that was the best?!?) (see below). I want more of them.

The humor in this final issue of the series is simply spectacular!!! Grievous has a hissy fit because the Qubeys do something sneaky in the guise of being super adorable. Obi-Wan tells Grievous, "Perhaps you could use a hug." AND the battle droid quotes are perfection. I nearly snorted a few times.

So, a great note to end on!! This series has absolutely brought me joy and I can't wait to see what Michael Moreci does for Star Wars in the future...